HUEY LONG (INK SPOTS) CULTURAL EXCHANGE CENTER FIJI BRANCH

Dedicated to the memory of legendary guitarist and jazz musician, Mr. Huey Long (1904-2009), an original Ink Spot, this blogspot is a Fiji-American Friendship & Cultural Exchange Center which hopes to build bridges of understanding and appreciation of each other through the sharing of biographies and autobiographies and music and history and issues facing the ordinary people of contemporary America and Fiji.

Huey Long By Proctorhttp://inkspots.ca/HUEY-LONG-PROCTOR.htmAccording to the stars, the passing of the late Huey Long is really the birth of many new music schools in different parts of the world, Here in Fiji,for example,lessons in guitar, the ukulele and keyboard have started in 80 Nailuva Road in memory of Mr. Huey Long. If you are interested in taking some basic lessons, please call +679-338 4276. This is offered to people of all ages and it is never too late to learn how to do anything.

Liah Johns from Port Villa, Vanuatu, another South Pacific Island nation takes her guitar lessons very seriously at 80 Nailuva Road. Leah is also learning how to drive, how to play the ukulele and the keyboard at the same time. She will teach those same skills when she returns home to Port Villa. Vinaka Liah.

Friday, June 19, 2009

A Memorial Service for legendary guitarist and Jazz Musician, the late Mr. Huey Long, (An Original Ink Spot), born on April 25th, 1904 and passed away on June 10th, 2009 was held at 12:00 Noon on Friday June 19th, 2009 at the Administrative Office of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the Fiji Islands, located at 414 Waimanu Road, in Suva. The following Prayers were recited for the late Mr Huey Long:

To a great Music Teacher

“To teach is to learn,To learn is to work,To work is to serve,To serve is to love,To love is to sacrifice,To sacrifice is to die,To die is to live,To live is to rise aboveAll earthly limitationsAnd enterThe eternal realm”

Va Taramarawa and Tavenisa Diri at the Huey Long (Ink Spots) Memorial Service at 414 Waimanu Road, Suva, Fiji Islands on Friday June sixteenth, 2009.

He is God, exalted is He, the Lord of loving-kindness and bounty!Glory be unto Thee, Thou, O my God, the Lord Omnipotent. I testify to Thine Omnipotence and Thy might, Thy sovereignty and Thy loving-kindness, Thy grace and Thy power, the oneness of Thy being and the unity of Thine Essence, Thy sanctity and exaltation above the world of being and all that is therein.O my God! Thou seest me detached from all save Thee, holding fast unto Thee and turning unto the ocean of Thy bounty, to the heaven of Thy favor, to the Daystar of Thy grace..read more Bahá’u’lláh

“Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! Abase not him whom Thou hast exalted through the power of Thine everlasting sovereignty, and remove not far from Thee him whom Thou hast caused to enter the tabernacle of Thine eternity. Wilt Thou cast away, O my God, him whom Thou hast overshadowed with Thy Lordship, and wilt Thou turn away from Thee, O my Desire, him to whom Thou hast been a refuge? Canst Thou degrade him whom Thou hast uplifted, or forget him whom Thou didst enable to remember Thee? Glorified, immensely glorified art Thou! Thou art He Who from everlasting hath been the King of the entire creation and its Prime Mover, and Thou wilt to everlasting remain the Lord of all created things and their Ordainer. Glorified art Thou, O my God! If Thou ceasest to be merciful unto Thy servants, who, then, will show mercy unto them; and if Thou refusest to succor Thy loved ones, who is there that can succor them?

Glorified, immeasurably glorified art Thou! Thou art adored in Thy truth, and Thee do we all, verily, worship; and Thou art manifest in Thy justice, and to thee do we all, verily, bear witness. Thou art, in truth, beloved in Thy grace. No God is there but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.”

Rondo Blue is an Australian Fan of Huey Long and the Ink Spots and a member of the Ink SPots Museum Fans. Bula Rondo !

O my God! O Thou forgiver of sins, bestower of gifts, dispeller of afflictions! Verily, I beseech thee to forgive the sins of such as have abandoned the physical garment and have ascended to the spiritual world. O my Lord! Purify them from trespasses, dispel their sorrows, and change their darkness into light. Cause them to enter the garden of happiness, cleanse them with the most pure water, and grant them to behold Thy splendors on the loftiest mount.

O my God! O my God! Verily, thy servant, humble before the majesty of Thy divine supremacy, lowly at the door of Thy oneness, hath believed in Thee and in Thy verses, hath testified to Thy word, hath been enkindled with the fire of Thy love, hath been immersed in the depths of the ocean of Thy knowledge, hath been attracted by Thy breezes, hath relied upon Thee, hath turned his face to Thee, hath offered his supplications to Thee, and hath been assured of Thy pardon and forgiveness. He hath abandoned this mortal life and hath flown to the kingdom of immortality, yearning for the favor of meeting Thee.O Lord, glorify his station, shelter him under the pavilion of Thy supreme mercy, cause him to enter Thy glorious paradise, and perpetuate his existence in Thine exalted rose garden, that he may plunge into the sea of light in the world of mysteries.Verily, Thou art the Generous, the Powerful, the Forgiver and the Bestower.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

http://www.bahaiprayers.org/depart5.htm

“O my God! This is Thy servant and the son of Thy servant who hath believed in Thee and in Thy signs, and set his face towards Thee, wholly detached from all except Thee. Thou art, verily, of those who show mercy the most merciful.

Deal with him, O Thou Who forgivest the sins of men and concealest their faults, as beseemeth the heaven of Thy bounty and the ocean of Thy grace. Grant him admission within the precincts of Thy transcendent mercy that was before the foundation of earth and heaven. There is no God but Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous.

Let him, then, repeat six times the greeting “Alláh-u-Abhá,” and then repeat nineteen times each of the following verses:

We all, verily, worship God.

We all, verily, bow down before God.

We all, verily, are devoted unto God.

We all, verily, give praise unto God.

We all, verily, yield thanks unto God.

We all, verily, are patient in God.

Bahá’u’lláh

http://www.bahaiprayers.org/depart1.htm

Nai Gale is a Bahai from Lalati Village in Beqa Island. She and Na are best friends and soul sisters who love the same music from the same era although she is 10 years younger than Na. Thank you for the prayers Nei Gale.

O Thou forgiving Lord!Although some souls have spent the days of their lives in ignorance, and became estranged and contumacious, yet, with one wave from the ocean of Thy forgiveness, all those encompassed by sin will be set free. Whomsoever Thou willest Thou makest a confidant, and whosoever is not the object of Thy choice is accounted a transgressor. Shouldst Thou deal with us with Thy justice, we are all naught but sinners and deserving to be shut out from Thee, but shouldst Thou uphold mercy, every sinner would be made pure and every stranger a friend. Bestow, then, Thy forgiveness and pardon, and grant Thy mercy unto all.Thou art the Forgiver, the Lightgiver and the Omnipotent.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

http://www.bahaiprayers.org/depart6.htm

We are grateful to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the Fiji Islands for the space, to the secretary for the photographs and for their kind hospitality during this occasion. May God bless you all.

To Anita Long and the Long family, to all the friends of Huey Long and the people of America, we send to you our appreciation for Huey Long, a life well lived and generously shared to all who came to know him, another unique gift to the world by America, the Beautiful !

Tavenisa Diri

Practising some guitar skills at the Nailuva Road learning studio !

Tavenisa and the President of the National Mothers Association Mrs Muniamma Naicker - the sister organization of the Soqosoqo Vakamarama in Lautoka, 2008.

WELCOME

Welcometo this blogspot dedicated to the memory of the legendary guitarist and jazz musician Mr. Huey Long, an original Ink Spot.

In addition to being a super-star in the world of music with his biography published in every encyclopedia of music while he was still alive, Mr. Huey Long was a music teacher and was infinitely patient with beginners of all ages.

I came to know Mr. Huey Long in 1995 when I went to teach in the Houston Independent School District in Texas. I was introduced to him by the Khalajabadis, an Iranian Bahai family in North West Houston.

We became best friends and we planned and completed many successful projects together from 1995 until 2003 when I returned to Fiji.

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The story of Mr. Huey Long, which you will read about in the Heights and Houston Tribune, Venus Hair and just about everywhere else, is a story of building on what you already know and what you alkready have to be successful in helping yourself and others to succeed..

Mr. Huey Long passed away on 10th June 2009 at the age of 105. A Memorial Service was held in his honor at 414 Waimanu Road, Suva at 12:00 noon on June 19th, the date and time when his funeral service was held in Houston, Texas and the second anniversary of the InkSpots Museum, a living tribute to Mr. Huey Long's contribution to music at the Heights in Houston, Texas, USA.

And so on June 19th, a very special day for Mr. Huey Long, A Cultural Exchange & Learning Center was established at 80 Nailuva Road, Suva, Fiji Islands in his memory.

At the Nauliva Road Cultural Exchange & Learning Center, we teach and learn the following:

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RUHI INSTITUTE: The Ruhi Institute Books 1 to 7 is open to all those who can participate either as a tutor or learner.

About Me

A member of the Navua Bahai Community and taking care of this blogspot. Born in Nawaisomo, Beqa Island and raised in Visila Farm, Deuba. Educated at Deuba District School, Vashist Muni Memorial School and Adi Cakobau School. Attended Nasinu Teachers College and teaching since 1979. Obtained a Master of Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia; a Texas Teaching Certificate from the University of Houston in Texas, USA; a Bachelor of Arts in English and Pyschology as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of the South Pacific.